She also welcomed the newly elected ACRL Vice President/President Elect, Helen Spalding, who briefly addressed the group. Spalding plans to focus her 2002-2003 presidential term on enhancing the visibility of academic librarians and improving library school education, with the theme “New Realities, New Relationships.” She observed that planning for the annual conference in 2003 will be quite different, since it will be held in Toronto Canada. Spalding will assume the office of Vice President following the annual conference.

Minick then introduced Althea Jenkins and noted that this was her last meeting as Executive Director as she will be joining Florida State University as director of the University Libraries. The group extended a special thanks and farewell to Althea for her efforts over the past 10 years.

Minutes from the 2001 Annual Midwinter meeting held in Washington DC were approved. Secretary Sherri Edwards asked attendees to sign the attendance sheets that were being circulated. Copies of the new Chapters Council brochure designed by Melissa Cast and Linda Kopecky were circulated.

The brochure will be available on the ACRL web site in both “pdf” and “html” format so that chapters can readily make copies.

Kopecky announced the slate of candidates for officers for 2001/2002. Candidates for Vice Chair/Chair Elect are Sherri Edwards and Susan Palmer; candidates for secretary are Tim Dodge and June Breland (Marilyn Rosenthal withdrew her name earlier). Voting was completed and winners were later announced:

Vice Chair/Chair Elect: Sherri Edwards Secretary: Tim Lodge

Linda is also accepting nominations for candidates for the ACRL Director-at Large position. Successful nominees will run on the Spring 2002 ballot for a four-year term beginning June 2002. Board member Barbara Jenkins encouraged attendees to consider running. For more information or to express interest in being considered, contact Linda at lkopecky@uwm.edu

3. UCITA Update & Discussion (Carol Ashworth, UCITA coordinator)

Carol Ashworth, the UCITA coordinator from the ALA Washington Office reported on the latest news about UCITA.

As legislative sessions wind down, Carol was happy to report that efforts to pass UCITA have not been successful in any state this year. Legislation was introduced in 21 states, with hearings held in only eight states. As of June 2001, only Virginia and Maryland has passed UCITA legislation.

Various versions of anti-UCITA bills, sometimes referred to as “bomb shelter” legislation, are being introduced to protect state residents from the very negative aspects of UCITA. As of June 2001, only Iowa and West Virginia have passed anti-UCITA laws. New York has a comprehensive bill pending but it has not advanced. Virginia was the first state in the nation to pass UCITA. In December, the Virginia Joint Committee on Technology and Science agreed to support a very narrow amendment negotiated by the Virginia Library Association. Many legislators have been told that the library concerns were resolved with this amendment but this is not true. This amendment deals only with tangible goods and does not address many of the problems UCITA creates for libraries.

The American Bar Association will be introducing a resolution opposing UCITA at its annual conference in August.

Carol warned us to be prepared for a renewed intense battle as they expect proponents such as Microsoft and AOL will be pressing hard for passage of UCITA in 2002.

The ALA Washington Office is offering two UCITA workshops during the annual conference: UCITA 101 (for beginners) and Advanced UCITA Advocacy Training. Information about these workshops can be found online at: (Expired)

Evelyn acknowledged and thanked Pat Walker for her efforts as ACRL legislative Network Coordinator for the past two years. Under Pat’s leadership, ACRL’s advocacy efforts have continued to flourish and every chapter has a representative to the network. Pat will be stepping down from this role after the annual meeting. Pat highlighted some of the other major issues facing academic libraries. One major issue deals with database protection legislation. No database protection bill has yet been introduced in this Congress. Last year, ALA and other national library associations were successful in defeating or delaying votes on HR 354, which was opposed by ALA as being overly broad and detrimental to libraries. ALA supported the other database protection bill (HR 1858), which has a more narrow focus.

Another issue is reauthorization. The Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) will be ready for reauthorization in the year 2002. At the 2001 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the ALA council passed a resolution supporting the timely reauthorization of LSTA at not less than 500 million dollars. Other important issues include the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and its exemptions for distance learning. The senate has passed SB 487, now called the Teach Bill, which updates the distance education provisions of the Copyright Act to account for advancements in digital technologies that support distance education. A similar bill, HR 2100, had been introduced in the House.

Also, SB 803, the E-Government Act of 2001, has been introduced in the Senate. SB 803 makes a number of proposals related to electronic government transactions and seeks to insure improved life-cycle management of government information.

Pat encouraged chapters to send representatives to National Library Legislative Day in Washington DC next May 5-7, 2001. She also reminded attendees about the program, ACRL Advocacy Circles, being held today from 11:30 to 1:00 pm, in which participants will be able to learn more about important legislative issues and share ways for addressing these issues.

5. Updates from ACRL officers and staff

Betsy Wilson, ACRL Past President

One of the highlights of her past year as ACRL President has been visiting the different local chapters. During the past year, she made visits to Louisiana, North Dakota, and the Greater Metro New York Chapters. For the past several years, the ACRL Board of Directors has allocated funding for the ACRL President, Vice President/President Elect, and Executive Director to visit and speak at local chapter conferences. The deadline to apply for the ACRL Speakers Bureau is June 1st.

The ACRL’s President’s Program, “ The Creative Genius of Community” featuring Sherman Alexie, will be held today at 2:00 pm and will focus on how academic libraries are collaborating with their communities. Also, there will be a reception on Monday honoring Larry Hardesty, who has been named the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year.

Seven years ago, the ACRL board established the ACRL Initiative Funds to provide opportunities for its member units to support ACRL’s strategic plan on the local level or to explore leading edge ideas that would show tangible results to either ACRL or the profession of academic librarianship. However, the Board feels that the Initiative Funds may have outlived their value and that it is time for the Board to begin looking for alternative ways to support chapters in their programming efforts. It seems that many program proposal were being turned down because they were not “cutting edge”, meaning that chapters wanting to replicate successful programs could not obtain funding. The board welcomes our input on ways it can continue to support the chapters.

Mary Reichel, ACRL President

Mary Reichel will assume the role of ACRL President immediately after the Annual Conference.

The ALA Conference committee is asking for feedback on a proposal to modify the Midwinter Meeting schedule, with the aim of concluding the Midwinter Meeting by the end of Tuesday. Shortening the meeting by one day would result in expense savings for the most active members, as well as for the association. However, changing the schedule will mean that committees will need to reconsider the sequence and timing of their meetings. With the proposed schedule, the exhibits opening and reception would be on Friday, with the exhibits closing as usual on Monday. The Council III and Executive Board would meet on Tuesday.

ALA is also seeking feedback about the program tracking used in this year’s annual conference. The idea was to arrange programs by theme or track so that programs on the same topic would be in nearby locations. Feedback from attendees included providing a more detailed description of the themes in advance of the conference and including themes with a more specific focus (this year’s themes seemed too broad). Mary reminded the group that no program was rejected this year for not fitting into one of the themes.

Two new ACRL promotional brochures are now available from the ACRL office and on the ACRL web site. The first one, “A Great Career,” can be used by libraries in recommending a career in academic librarianship to students enrolled on their campus and particularly to those working in their libraries. The second brochure, “A Student’s Guide to Evaluating Libraries in Colleges and Universities,” is designed to help prospective students critically examine the campus library as they are choosing a university or college.

Candidates for ACRL Vice President/President Elect have just been announced. They are Tyrone Cannon and John Popko.

Larry Hardesty, Former Past President

Larry is chairing the program committee for the ACRL 11th National Conference, to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina from April 10-13th. The theme will be “Learning to Make a Difference” and attendee participation will be a major emphasis.

Melissa Cast, Member Services

All chapters are now incorporated or part of a state association that is incorporated.

Cast reminded chapters that, in addition to the $1.00 for each ACRL national member living within the chapter’s region, ACRL will provide funding in the amount of $10.00 for each new member joining ACRL, provided the chapter conducted membership recruitment activities over the past year (i.e. discounts at conferences for ACRL members, membership drives, mailing campaigns, etc.) and highlighted these membership recruitment efforts in their annual report. To date, no chapter has taken advantage of this new members funding initiative.

Funding is based on ACRL membership as of August 31st and cannot be carried over from one year to the next. These funds can be used by chapters for reimbursement for such items as photocopying, postage, supplies, and basic services, but cannot be used for reimbursement for food & beverage costs. Deadline for reimbursement is August 15th. The form for reimbursement and for completing annual reports can be found at the ACRL web site.

A question was raised about whether expenses incurred as a result of the incorporation process could be reimbursed. Melissa did not know the answer to this question but will explore it.

Each chapter is entitled to one set of mailing labels (or a mailing list) each year. However, if a chapter wants more than one set, they will be charged.

The Spring 2001 issue of Chapter Topics was Heather’s last one as editor. Debbie Malone, the current chair of the Delaware Valley Chapter, has graciously agreed to take on the role as editor. A special thanks for Heather for her work has editor during the past year. The deadline to submit articles for the Fall issue is August 24, 2001. Submissions can be sent via email to Debbie at Debbie.malone@desales.eduChapter Topics is published three times per year by the Chapters Council

7. Sharing our Successes

Unfortunately, time did not permit the chapters from sharing their stories about successful programming and other events, etc. but several chapters provided copies of program flyers, which were distributed. A special note was made about the Delaware Chapter, which will be celebrating its 50th year as an ACRL Chapter this fall. Also, the New England Chapter sponsored a total of 13 programs this past year, a remarkable accomplishment. Evelyn reminded the group that the annual report written each year is an excellent vehicle for boasting about the accomplishments of your local chapter.